Man, what a great comic series for me. It hits all of my buttons… I love the obscure cast and also okaying identify the character in the crowd scene.

The Wreckers don’t do a whole lot other than prepare for the Speedia 500, but there’s just lot of character beat moments. Also the toys! Maybe Hasbro Pulse will finally sell out of the Prime Breakdown set since, unlike Knock Out, his body isn’t significantly changed. Also Override is clearly from the original toy without anything indicating what the new one will look like. Odd, considering she’s in the Veloictron series with Road Rocket, who is clearly a Legacy Arcee retool.

People will either love or hate a scene with Knock Out and Breakdown.

Not sure what’s going on with Axer…

I wish this was the main ongoing book. This is the kind of Transformers book I want to read every month.

So…. Anyone want to take a crack at a page by page cameo list?

Edit: oh yeah, and how could I forget… ARMADA SIDEWAYS! too bad it just looks like the original toy… but so does Override. I’d want a new Sideways as a voyager+ like Hot Rod and include both Headmasters (who combine into the driver)

 

Spoiler

LET'S FUCKING GOOOOOOO

 

First onscreen kiss from Canon decepticon couple! I love this book!

 

I think this is the first onscreen kiss of any gay male couple so far in all of IDW, period. May there be many more!

 

I was so focused on Sideways I somehow missed the kiss scene lmao. Part of me hopes Sideways is gonna play an important role secretly working with Mayhem, but part of me feels he's a red herring.

 

Wait, Sideways shows up in this book? I understand it has to be a mere cameo (if Sideways were in a starring role again it'd have to be a big deal, on top of being a master manipulator he's an eldritch abomination kinda like what they're going for with Exarchon) but I do wonder which one of his three heads he was drawn with.

 

He doesn't have any lines but he's set up as one of the main participants in the Speedia 500, being the only major participant the Wreckers don't talk to (and he's drawn with his base Armada head)

 

Well they're not really Decepticons yet, we'll have to see where their allegiance lands if they become part of the war.

 

Ok so did anyone else find it weird that Axer and Circuit are hanging out together considering that they’re straight repaints of each other? I do love the use of Action Master partners!

Aileron SO needs a toy. We have Selects Hot Shot, Selects Ricochet/Stepper, TFCC Circuit (not perfect, but works for now), we know Minerva is coming next year, and Botcon Thunderclash (though I prefer my FansHobbt one, I want to stay official. Also Thunderclash is highly likely in the next couple years). But Aileron? Nothing. Not even a 3P figure to fall back on.

edit: some toys I could identify.. some have different heads/colors

Cybertron Landmine Energon Downshift (thanks to @Furnace )

RID15 Jazz

Cybertron Red Alert

Animated Cybertronian Sari, maybe? Animated Lickety-Split (thanks to @SerBuckman)

Combiner Wars Scrounge


And last but not least….

CYBERTRON SIGNAL LANCER!

 

That's Lickety-Split, an Animated character who appeared in the background in a few episodes

 

Ah, thank you! I knew it looked familiar… Didn’t know she had a name.

 

So this may sound weird, but how often do we see kisses of any kind in the franchise? I'm legitimately only coming up with two: the Junkion greeting Grimlock in the movie and Arcee with Aileron in the old continuity.

Granted, half of these guys don't even have mouths....

 

That's a good question. Rattrap kissed Rhinox a couple of times in Beast Wars, I think Blackarachnia and Silverbolt went at it a few times, Ariel kissed Orion Pax on the cheek in G1 (but I don't know if we're counting cheek kisses)... There have to be more that I'm not remembering right now. Does anyone else have a better memory than mine?

 

I might be mistaken on this, but to my eyes, that bot more resembles Energon Downshift (albeit with a different head):

 

I knew any type of friendly reunion between Axer and Circuit wouldn't remain long.   Minerva may be at the Medical Station but there's no doubt she's going to be semi-ready to defend herself & Circuit if pressed.

Really enjoyed this comic.

 

Just read it, really love all the obscure characters we've been getting. Anyone else notice dragstrip on the final panel?

 

Even though the Mlp/ Transformers ll crossover is not canon. The speech knockout gave to free breakdown of the mind control makes the kiss between breakdown and knockout even more valid. One thing I love about the series is acknowledgment of so many characters that either will become future autobots, decepticons as well as allies and enemies alike. I also love this new take on thunderclash it reminds me of what hot rod / Rodimus could have become one the last idw phase. The old idw thunderclash was too much like a near perfect Superman replica that honestly even the betrayal wasn’t enough to give this guy more character depth. In other words boring.

 

Ah! Good call! The pipes on the shoulders made me think of Landmine, but it’s definitely Downshift’s body type..

Also, I think this guy reminds me of Cybertron Brakedown.

 

I hope not. Robots kissing on the lips just looks so very awkward regardless of their gender. Its one thing a Junkion kissing Grimlock on the nose, or Rattrap kissing Rhinox on the cheek, but human style kissing does not belong in Transformers.

I liked the Chromedome/Rewind and Cyclonus/Tailgate relationships in MTMTE but I didn't want to see them kiss, and thankfully we didn't get that.

 

That's nice. Anyway, I hope Knock Out and Breakdown make more appearances in IDW. It was very nice to see them again, especially in Jack Lawrence's lovely style.